Hers for the Holidays (13 page)

“Not here,” he said, his voice rough.

They stilled as voices rang outside the car, a group leaving the restaurant.

“Ely, it’s an hour back to the ranch, at least,” Lydia objected. “I want you now.”

“I want you, too, but we don’t have to wait that long,” he said, pushing her back into the passenger seat and starting the car.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I reserved a room. It’s just down the street,” he said, looking at her as the fogged windshield cleared.

“You got us a room? When?”

“As soon as I knew we were coming into town. I thought we could both use a break. Some private time.”

Light dawned and she nodded. “Ah. You had reservations at that restaurant, too, didn’t you?”

“Guilty as charged,” he said, putting the car into gear and pulling out of the lot. A few minutes later they were at the Crown Plaza.

“C’mon,” he said, running around to open her door and help her out, practically throwing the keys at the valet as they both laughed, hurrying into the lobby of the hotel.

Minutes later, they were in an elevator that was taking them up to what she thought she’d heard the clerk describe not as a room, but a
suite.
As she started to ask questions about that, Ely pressed her against the wall of the elevator and kissed any objections or worries away, reminding her of why they were here in the first place.

“Let me do this for you, Lydia. For us. Consider it an early Christmas gift,” he said against her ear, making shivers work up and down her spine.

No one had ever done anything like this for her before, and she wanted to object, but the idea of being alone, here, with Ely, for the whole night was too much temptation.

“But I didn’t get you anything,” she said with a smile, looking up into his eyes, relenting.

He grinned. “Sweetheart, you are more than gift enough,” he said as the doors opened.

Lydia couldn’t help but laugh as he stopped every three feet all the way to their room to kiss her senseless. He removed some piece of her exterior clothing—her hat, coat, gloves, scarf—so that by the time they reached the door of the suite, Lydia didn’t care about anything except him taking the rest of it off, which was clearly his plan, too.

12

L
YDIA
WALKED
IN
ahead of Ely; he turned on the lights and she stood and took it in.

“Wow,” she said. “I’ve never stayed in a suite before. This is so cool,” she exclaimed, running to the window and taking in the view. The window of the main room looked down over the city, all of the twinkling city lights and Christmas lights blending in together.

“It was the only room they had available on short notice, but I figured why not enjoy our night in style,” Ely said. He draped his coat over a chair and walked up behind her, sliding his hands around her and setting his chin on her shoulder. “There’s a hot tub,” he said, a mischievous grin reflecting back to her in the window’s surface.

She turned in his arms, looking up into his face. “Thank you. This is a lovely idea,” she said, pushing up on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly. But that only lasted a second before he took control and deepened the kiss to a purely carnal exploration that had her moaning against him.

Ely put his hands under her backside, pulling her up as she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and her legs around his hips. Holding her with one arm while not breaking the kiss, he drew the curtains with his free hand and walked them back to the large sofa positioned in front of a flat-screen TV.

Settling back into the deep cushions, Lydia enjoyed the luxury of being able to take as much time as she wanted to explore Ely with no worries about anything outside of the room. This was their world, as far as she was concerned, and she planned to take advantage of every second of it.

Unwinding her arms and her legs and straddling him more comfortably, she slid her hands down and under the edge of his sweater, tugging it up over his head. He did the same for her, his eyes traveling over her face, then lower, reflecting his appreciation for the lacy bra and what it revealed.

“You’re so beautiful it blows my mind,” he said on a breath that made her catch her own. She leaned back, drawing her hands up her stomach, over her breasts and through her hair, letting her head fall back. He liked it when she put on a little show for him, and the hardening she felt beneath her bottom confirmed that.

Grinding against him in imitation of the belly dancer’s moves, Lydia smiled as he groaned.

“Feels good to me, too. I want this to last,” she said.

For all of their frantic rush from the restaurant, suddenly she wanted to take things as slow as humanly possible, drawing out every bit of pleasure she could from this night.

Biting her lip, she had an idea and wondered if Ely would go along. Sliding from his lap, she grabbed the remote control and sat back beside him.

“You want to watch television?” he asked incredulously. “With a perfectly good hot tub in the other room?”

“Not exactly,” she responded, grinning. “Hot tub later,” she said, clicking through the hotel menu options to the adult viewing schedule. She slid a look his way as the titles popped up on the screen.

“You into this, or will it turn you off?” she asked honestly. She didn’t watch adult movies as a habit, but she didn’t mind one now and then, depending on the situation. She had no idea of Ely’s tastes.

“Can’t say I watch too many, but I’m open to it,” he said, watching her curiously.

“You choose,” she said, handing him the remote and holding her breath in anticipation, wondering what he would choose. What secret fantasies would Ely reveal?

Lydia went to turn the lights off, allowing the glow of the TV to be the only lighting. He chose a film, and as it started, she stood in front of the screen. She took off her jeans and boots, leaving only her bra and panties on. Ely slid out of his clothes as well, welcoming her back to the sofa and into his arms where she curled up against his warm body, every nerve ending in her body hyperaware as the movie started.

The opening screen homed in on a beach sunrise, where a man sat alone on the beach, naked, and looking out at the water expectantly. His hand lowered and he started to pleasure himself, focusing on the water.

“Do it,” Lydia whispered into Ely’s ear, a little breathless, wondering if he would.

Pausing for a second, he shucked his shorts and took his cock in his hand, watching her rather than the screen as he made himself hard, stroking until Lydia sighed. He was gorgeous, and she loved watching him.

She turned back to the screen. “Oh, look. That’s who he was waiting for.”

“A mermaid?” he said with a chuckle.

“Hey, to each their own,” Lydia joked and rubbed her hand over the muscles of his chest. They watched the mermaid magically form two gorgeous legs from her tail as she emerged out of the water, also completely naked, of course.

The woman from the sea didn’t wait long to join her friend in the sand, falling down to his side and looking at him meaningfully as she stroked him and then took him fully with her mouth.

Replacing Ely’s hand with her own, Lydia did the same, wrapping her fingers around him, and then sliding down to taste him as fully as the mermaid was doing for her lover.

“Oh, Lydia,” Ely said thickly.

The man on the screen pulled away, and brought the mermaid up for a deep kiss, and Ely, keen to the game Lydia was playing now, did the same.

Lydia was so hot she thought she might melt as Ely’s hands worked over her body. She was starting to have a very hard time keeping track of the movie.

Ely moved to kiss her shoulder, looking at the screen. “I think we might have a harder time with this part,” he said, his tone husky with arousal and laughter.

Lydia turned to find several more mermaids emerging from the water, joining in the fun.

“Yeah, that could be difficult,” she agreed, kissing him again, their own sighs and moans mingling with those on the TV.

He was hard as steel under her, his breath hot on her skin.

The need for Ely was merging with the sounds of ecstasy from the movie as she recited what was happening on screen. It pushed them both to an erotic peak that had her buckling into an orgasm almost as soon as he thrust inside. He followed quickly, pushing her over one more time before they both collapsed into each other.

The movie folks were still going at it; the man on the beach was being swarmed by horny mermaids. She and Ely couldn’t help but laugh as they caught their breath, clicking the movie off.

“Do you do this often, I mean, watching these kinds of films?” he asked, finally catching his breath.

She snuggled down beside him. “Sex has always been fun for me, and I don’t mind experimenting, as you know.”

“It’s one of the things that draws me to you, how different you are. Uninhibited. I like it. A lot,” he said warmly, looking down at her.

Something clenched in her chest at the way he looked at her, something more than sex hiding behind his words. She smiled, moving away, putting just a little distance between them.

“Good, because it’s still early,” she said with a wicked grin. “And there is that hot tub you keep talking about.”

An emotion she couldn’t quite identify flickered in his eyes so quickly she thought that she might have imagined it, but then he smiled, too, reaching for her.

Lydia followed and tried not to think about how much she loved his laugh, the way he looked at her and the way he touched her, because pretty soon, it would be time to return to Philly, and to her normal life. And that plan didn’t include Ely as anything other than a casual friend.

Still, as he hauled her close and held her tight, his kiss swamping any more thinking or conversation, she couldn’t remember the last time any of her “friends” had made her feel exactly like this. There was definitely nothing casual about it.

* * *

E
LY
LAY
IN
THE
huge bed wide awake, staring at the ceiling where a sliver of light snuck through the drawn curtains; Lydia was sleeping soundly next to him, curled up on her side of the bed. The hot tub still hissed and burbled over in the corner of the room, and he smiled, remembering what had happened there a few hours ago.

In spite of the intermittent insomnia he always experienced, he should be out like a light, too. Still, even as his desire for Lydia had consumed him for hours as they played out a number of fantasies and scenarios, once the passion passed, his mind was left ticking away thoughts like the clock on the bed stand.

Sex has always been fun for me,
she’d said.

And sex with Lydia
was
fun. Ely was having a whole lot of fun, no doubt about that, but it was something else that had him awake and unsettled. Like how she moved away any time things became too intimate or how she closed him out when a conversation became too personal.

He’d known the deal going in—friends, albeit with benefits—only, but he wasn’t even sure he felt like they were developing a friendship. Didn’t friends share, trust, and rely on each other? Here, he was lying to her, although for her safety, and she was keeping a safe distance from him emotionally. The only two times she had really connected with him that way was when she told him about Ginny, and when she’d cried over her mother, by the tree.

It was as if the only connection they had was sexual, and Ely wanted...more. Not living together forever and walking down the aisle—no white picket fences—but he wanted to be something more to her than “fun.”

Was he already starting to bore her? Was it inevitable, given her broader sexual experience? Maybe so. For him, he felt as if he had only scratched the surface, but he could see the end in her eyes. Lydia was already mentally packing up her bags and leaving. The thing was that he was leaving, too—they were going back to Philly together. Did this have to be over? Did it have to be one thing or the other?

Even now, she slept soundly, facing him, with him, but apart. She’d crept over to her own side of the bed and passed out, retreating back to her own space even in sleep.

Ely closed the distance, moving his hand over her shoulder, loving the smoothness of her skin, the strength of her body underneath the softness. He traced the line of one of her tattoos from her upper arm, down over her collarbone to the slope of her breast. The nub at the peak, soft in sleep, hardened as soon as he touched it. Her soft sigh triggered a deep need inside of him to touch her more, to have her close.

Right now, he couldn’t imagine ever not wanting her. Or at least, not for a very long time.

Easing downward, he replaced his hand with his mouth, sucking gently on one tip then the other, his hand traveling down to slide between her legs. She moaned, still not quite awake, but her silky thighs opened for him.

Her soft sounds and warmth invited him in. He kissed her belly, her hip, and then explored that sweet, slick spot that made her whimper his name on a sigh of pleasure. It thrilled him to do that. More so than it ever had before, with anyone else. Having Lydia open to him, trusting him and wanting him, was more of a rush than he could say, even if it was only physical.

But soft in half sleep, she was irresistible. He grabbed a condom, his last one he realized, and did the one thing they hadn’t done in all of their times together. Maybe this old-fashioned, face-to-face loving would seem quaint to her, but he wanted it. Levering over her, he lay down between her thighs, not entering her, but simply laying there, surrounded in her warmth.

“Ely,” she whispered sleepily, her hand coming to his face. He kissed it, wanting something tender and gentle between them. Wanting her close when he was inside her.

“You awake?” he asked, nibbling at her earlobe.

“Mostly,” she said, sighing. “What are you doing?”

He chuckled softly, nudging her with his erection. “I wanted you again,” he said.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she responded with a smile, and tipped her face up to kiss him, starting to move from under him.

He stopped her. “No, this way...just like this,” he said.

She stilled, and then relaxed, her arms coming around his shoulders.

“Okay,” she agreed.

While the kink and the fun were great, for one moment, he wanted something quiet and real with Lydia.

“Okay,” he echoed and leaned in to kiss her.

He didn’t plunder or let the moment become frantic, but kept it slow and gentle, kissing and touching as he eased inside and slipped his hand down below her hip to gain some purchase.

She whimpered approvingly and wrapped her legs around his lower back, deepening the connection.

Blood pounded in Ely’s brain, urging him to go faster, harder, to possess and take what was his, but he didn’t give in to that, preferring instead to maintain the soft, steady glide that had his entire body shaking—and hers, too—as they made a very slow, lovely climb together.

She was clinging to him and crying out when she came. Kissing her deeply so that their connection was complete, he thrust again, finding his own release and not letting go or moving even several minutes after it passed.

It was what he needed. It felt...right. And he didn’t want to move, to break the connection.

“Ely,” Lydia said, her hands on his shoulders. “Did you fall back asleep?” she asked, a touch of humor in her tone.

She did that, too—used humor as one of her ways to avoid emotion and intimacy. It could be something that brought them closer, but Lydia used it to defuse instead. He still didn’t move but pushed up on his arms, sliding his hands into her hair and taking a few more kisses before he responded.

“No, I just like being here, like this, with you.”

“Oh,” she said, and he didn’t know if he detected a bit of apprehension in her tone. Her legs loosened from around him, letting him go. “I have to get up, though, sorry,” she said with a slight chuckle, breaking the spell.

He nodded with a sigh, planting one more kiss on her mouth and feeling the cool air rush between them even if the room was plenty warm enough. She slid from the bed, went to the bathroom without another word and closed the door. Ely dispensed of the condom and found his shorts. Walking to the window, and he stared out at dawn as it crept over the sleeping city.